VALDOSTA, Ga. – Valdosta State fell 7-5 in the first game before rebounding for a 5-2 in the second game as the Blazers split a non-conference baseball doubleheader with Saint Leo at Billy Grant Field Saturday afternoon.

Saint Leo (1-1) jumped out to the early lead in the first game as it took advantage of a throwing error to late a run in the top of the first inning. J.C. Suarez reached on the error by VSU’s Jon Koenigsfeld. A walk and a ground out moved Suarez to third, allowing him to score on a balk by Blazer starting pitcher Ross Gusky to give the Lions a 1-0 lead.

Ware Hart walked and stole second before coming home on a Kory Wan to push the SLU lead to 2-0 while the Lions added two more runs in the fourth. Each of the first three Saint Leo batters reached on walks before Gusky recorded a strike out for the first out. A ground ball to short appeared to get him out of the inning, but Don DiPetta was unable to get the ball out of his glove to make the relay throw to first on the play to Ryan Powers to score. Suarez proceeded to lay down a bunt to plate Hart for the fourth Lion run of the game.

Valdosta State (1-2) evened the game in the bottom of the sixth. Koenigsfeld was hit by a pitch to open the inning and moved to second as Brandon Decker followed with a base hit to left. Jake Summers doubled to center to plate Koenigsfeld while Decker came home when Clayton Cain grounded out to short. Austin Smith was hit by a pitch to put two men on, allowing Summers to score on a Jordan Yost single while Jordan Hollis walked to load the bases. Lion reliever Henry Johnson came on and balked before throwing a pitch, plating Smith to tie the game at 4-4.

Saint Leo quickly regained the lead as Kory Wan walked to open the seventh inning and moved to second on Ryan Brnovich’s bunt single. A Suarez single plated Wan while Brnovich advanced to second on a throwing error by VSU reliever Kyle Rowe and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jason Hamm.

Back-to-back singles by Koenigsfeld and Decker allowed Summers to hit a sacrifice fly to close VSU back to within 6-5, but Ryan Gawrych walked and stole a pair of bases before scoring on a throwing error by Hollis to close out the scoring.

Johnson allowed two hits and run in two-thirds of an inning to pick up the win while Rowe surrendered three hits and two runs, only one of which was earned, in three innings in the loss.

The Blazers never trailed in the second game as they scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. Summers singled to open the inning and two batters later moved to second on a Bobby Triglia base hit. Chaz Bagwell reached on an infield single to load the bases while Summers and Triglia proceeded to come home when Antonio Clark reached on a throwing error by Brnovich at second base to give VSU a 2-0 lead.

Smith hit his first home run of the year to push the Valdosta State lead to 3-0 in the fourth before Saint Leo struck for two runs in the fifth. Ryan Powers singled and moved to second on a fielding error by Conrad Boron in left field to open the inning and, after a pair of outs, scored when Wan doubled to right. A Brnovich single to right proceeded to score Wan to cut the VSU lead to 3-2.

The Blazers closed out the scoring in the bottom of the fifth as Koenigsfeld singled with one out before Decker pushed him to second with a base hit. A Yost base hit drove home Koenigsfeld while Decker moved to third on a Summers hit and scored when Smith was hit by a pitch.

Brett Kennedy surrendered five hits and two runs while striking out seven in a complete game effort to improve to 1-1 for VSU. Aaron Brandt took the loss after giving up nine hits and five runs in four and a third-innings.

Summers recorded four hits, two runs scored and two RBI to lead VSU at the plate on the day while Decker finished the day with three hits and two runs scored. Four different Lions finished with two hits in the two games.

Valdosta State returns to action Tuesday, February 9 when it hosts Georgia Southwestern at 5:00 p.m. at Billy Grant Field.